Nothing ever seems to be exactly as you think it is – or was – and that applies as much to the nostalgia industry as anything else. Thus, those who think it was so much better in days gone past might be intrigued to note this report (below right) taken from the Daily Mirror on 17 September 1940 – ten days into the London Blitz.

It tells the tale of two men, Charles Groman, thirty-two, a porter, of Cannon-street-road, Stepney, East, a Pole, and David Rothman, nineteen, a street trader, of Bancroft Road, Stepney – both living in the centre of the devastation brought by Hitler's bombers (pictured above - actually photographed on 17 September 1940).

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Although I do agree that the good old days are anything but, I do have some sympathy for both sides of this story.

The 'stolen goods' would have not been able to be sold on again, would in all probability have been spoilt and blown to the four winds and so there was no real harm done and at least they were able to be used.

On the other hand you can understand the authorities desire at the start of the Blitz to lay down a marker that just because someones property has been bomb damaged that doesn't mean you can just start helping yourself to it. That this is a few chocolate bars rather than, say, a radio makes this crime and punishment appear ludicrous but no doubt word had came down from the top to this copper that anyone seen 'looting', however trivial, had to be reported.

I hope the takeover doesn't mean that Continuum will be discouraged from publishing "edgy" or heterodox stuff from people like you and Booker?

I am assured that the reverse will apply. That there will be more time given to authors and more weight behind the books we produce .... please ...

I agree with norman [again]. We've gone from one extreme to the other now, in the UK. These days, it's become almost impossible to get imprisoned for theft. I'm sure that crime rate would swiftly descend if criminals knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that any kind of theft carried a mandatory prison sentence, with hard labour.

According to 1949 Myth & Reality, Ponting, on 11 June 1940 it was made a criminal offence "to make or report any statement likely to cause alarm and despondency". There was a rush of prosecuctions. A man was gaoled for a month for saying Britain had no chance of winning the war. By early August the number of prosecutions was such that the Home Office instructed magistrates to prosecute only really serious cases. In June 1941 a woman was gaoled for five years for saying that "Hitler was a good ruler, a better man than Churchill." So we were not fighting for freedom of speech.

Does that mean that your book will now come in two versions - one with an adult's cover and one with a children's cover?

Talking of rose tinted spectacles when looking back at the good old days.I fondly recall a conversation I had with my Grandmother(no longer with us unfortunately) who after watching the 9/11 atrocities said that she wouldnt like to have to bring children up in this day and age.Rather perplexed, I pointed out that at least she was now safe in her home near the docklands of Sunderland,where the Luftwaffe had spent 2 solid years trying to flatten her house with her and her very young children in it.

It appears time softens the memories of even those who were involved at the sharp end of business in WWII.

How about a bundle offer for The Many Not The Few hardback edition with an Harry Potter book so that adult readers of the latter can camouflage their copies with the former's dustjacket?

Yeah ... happens ...

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... -over.html

Or, of course, vice versa.

This lady was charged with "theft by finding" after taking waffles that Tesco had chucked out after a power cut:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... aling.html

I've been pulling down more cuttings on this ... the law of unintended consequences kicked in ... it got to the stage where air raid wardens would not pick up valuables for safekeeping from bomb sites, for fear of getting prosecuted for looting.

More war anecdotes from grandparents.My grandfather was part of a Home Guard draughted from the northeast to help clear up debris from the London streets after raids.He told me he once found a box with gold and jewellry in it in a bombed out house.He hid it with the intention of "collecting|" it later,but found it had vanished on his return.Its hardly a heroic war story,but at least it probably was a true one

Im sure he did not fully understand the implications of what he was doing,he could have been shot.He certainly never mentioned that possibility, so it probably never dawned on him.If he did know it would have been a huge risk to take.My reading of it is that it cant have been spelled out in no uncertain terms to these "clearing crews".

Very much one of the less publicised stories of the war ... the amount of "looting". But the amount of government waste was probably greater. There was a huge outcry when it was discovered that the cleared debris was being dumped, with no attempt at salvage, when materials worth millions could have been recovered. There were no prosecutions there, though.